I saw this picture on a shelter website and I fell in love. It happens that way.
So, I contacted the rescue, and then I contacted the shelter manager. And, you know how when you are shopping on Amazon, they recommend other items? If you like that, you’ll love this! Well, the shelter manager was quick to let me know that this darling came in with two others, probably siblings. Rescuers don’t like to leave family behind. If we take puppies, we take mom. If we take one puppy, we also take its siblings. I was ready to take two of the three girls if I could find a foster for the third, and then we hit a snag. Another rescue that I work with had just pulled a mama and her litter of pups from this same shelter and they had kennel cough. Kennel cough is highly contagious. It is treatable, but dangerous in puppies. Left untreated, it can become pneumonia. One of the rescued puppies that had it was being hospitalized. An outbreak of kennel cough at the shelter. This was a problem.
If you take your dog to boarding or daycare they require a bordatella vaccination because of the easy contagion. All of my dogs are vaccinated. Just like the flu shot that we all get every year, the bordatella vaccine doesn’t cover all of the strands of kennel cough, just the two most common ones. After the giardia outbreaks of the past summer, and the joys and expense of treating every dog here for it, I am being cautious. Mya has a suppressed immune system and I am particularly concerned about exposing her. I ended up pulling the little black one, Bella, from the shelter and leaving the other two behind. I had only found 1 foster willing to deal with a quarantine situation. Bella was the sickest and most stressed in the shelter. She has a little cough. The vet tech working at the shelter said that all three dogs had tested positive for heartworm, and Bella was highly positive, so I got her out first. I asked if they were treating the 3 for kennel cough or heartworm. No, she said. We don’t have the funding for meds and we don’t give them anything unless it gets really bad. So, every dog that is brought in is given a bordatella vaccination, but thats it. They are all exposed, and not treated. It breaks my heart.
I spent a week begging for fosters for the other two. The problem is, there are just so many dogs in need, and never enough fosters. Taking in a contagious dog isn’t an easy thing. I understand. But I wasn’t going to give up on these puppies. I share my fostering stories constantly, and introvert that I am, I ask total strangers if they would like to become fosters. It has been such an amazing positive experience for me. If you show interest, I ask if you want to try it. I followed up with a woman who commented on a Facebook post about these puppies. I talked with my waitress who was really enthusiastic about fostering one of them. Unfortunately, they both said they would love to, and then didn’t fill out the necessary application to become a foster. In the meantime, I felt awful about leaving the other two dogs behind. Really awful. I finally got to the point where I couldn’t just leave them there. I had an interested adopter for one and a potential foster for one and so I went and got them both. I’m so glad that I did! There have been a few coughs and sneezes, but nothing bad. They are all three house and crate trained and as sweet as can be. They all have adopters lined up. Best news is, we took them to the vet this morning to get spayed and I asked them to repeat the heartworm test – all 3 came back negative! I am overwhelmingly happy about this!!! Best news ever!
These 3 puppies were lost, or thrown away, and then locked up in puppy prison. I am so happy to be able to get them out and into forever homes. They are going to make three families very happy! The is why I rescue. I spread love.
Look at them now.
